How a Dinner Table Idea Turned Into a $40 Million Lifeline for Children’s Health

The Nike Doernbecher Freestyle Program was born during a conversation between a father and his 14-year-old son over dinner. Michael Doherty, a Nike executive and board member of the OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital foundation, was looking for a new way to raise money for the hospital.

Sarah Larson, assistant vice president of development, OHSU Foundation

Doherty’s son Connor had an idea. What if patients could design their own shoes and Nike would make and auction them? “I just remember being a shoe collector and thinking that it would be just the coolest thing if Nike could do one-of-one shoes,” says Connor in a hospital video.

What emerged was the Nike Doernbecher Freestyle Program, a partnership that has grown into something far greater than the father and son ever could have imagined at that dinner table.

Since its launch two decades ago, the Freestyle Program collection has become one of Nike’s most anticipated annual releases. Shoe lovers, including celebrities like LeBron James and Tiger Woods, have bought Doernbecher Freestyles over the years — raising a whopping $40 million.

Read the full article to discover how a dinner table idea grew into a life-changing program that has raised millions in unrestricted funds for the children’s hospital over the past 20 years, with insights from Sarah Larson, assistant vice president of development, OHSU Foundation: Soles That Raised $40 Million for OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital

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